


Paradox

by Dessa



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: F/M, Hidden scene, Mostly Canon Compliant, Phoenix Nest Discord, time paradox
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-05 21:40:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19048966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dessa/pseuds/Dessa
Summary: Ezra takes a chance, and nearly destroys everything.





	1. Chapter 1

Ezra listened to Ahsoka as she spoke, his mind still wrapping itself around everything that was happening.

 

“This place is ancient,” Ahsoka was saying. “Like a world between worlds...”

 

“Yeah,” Ezra replied. “It feels like that dream where I met Dume.”

 

“The creature named Dume... it appeared _after_ Kanan died? That has to be more than a coincidence.”

 

“I know. Caleb Dume, a _wolf_ named Dume? What does it mean?”

 

“Perhaps Kanan's will is still at work, through the wolf.”

 

“How could that be?” Ezra scoffed.

 

“Well, Kanan is part of the Cosmic Force, now,” Ahsoka explained, walking and looking at the constellation of the wolf. “There are ways that those who have passed on may still guide or influence the living. It's not impossible.”

 

“But... if it was Kanan who sent me here, then...” Ezra trailed off.

 

Ahsoka looked at him. “What is it?”

 

“I thought I was sent here to stop the Empire, but then I found you! Don't you see?” Ezra was getting excited.

 

“You think that Kanan sent you here to help me.”

 

“Not just you!”

 

Voices could be heard again, this time distinctively Kanan's. Ezra looked around, seeking the source.

 

“I-I can do it! I can save Kanan just like I saved you!” The desperation was clear in the boy's voice.

 

“Ezra,” Ahsoka cautioned, reaching out her hand to touch his arm. The voices were louder now. Ezra started to move. “Ezra, wait!”

 

Ignoring her, Ezra took off at a run. Ahsoka launched Morai to the air, while she ran after the Padawan.

 

Ezra listened to the voice of his Master, letting it guide him past various portals and forks in the path. “This way!” he shouted, turning down one fork, Ahsoka following fast on his heels.

 

The boy slowed to a stop, listening again. “One of these portals _must_ lead to Kanan!”

 

“Ezra!” Ahsoka called out to him. “ _Think_ about what you are doing!”

 

“I _know_ what I'm doing!” Ezra insisted. “Here in this place, I can change things! I can stop Kanan from dying!”

 

“You don't know that,” Ahsoka pleaded.

 

“Yes. I do!” Ezra had practically gone mad with his determination to save his Master. “If I can change your fate, I can change his.”

 

New sounds permeated the space, and Ezra turned to see a portal activating. Walking toward it, Ahsoka following, the a scene appeared in it, one that had seared itself into Ezra's mind, permeating his nightmares.

 

It was the top of the fuel depot. The top of the fuel depot, as flames exploded, and Kanan rushed to hold them back with the Force.

 

Ezra shook his head, watching his Master hold back the explosion. “I can reach him,” he said with determination.

 

“Ezra...” Ahsoka said softly. “Kanan gave his life so that you could live. If he's taken out of this moment...” Ahsoka shook her head. “You _all_ die...”

 

Ezra didn't even bother hiding the emotion in his voice. “You don't understand... what you're asking me to do.” He closed his eyes, looking away from both her and the portal.

 

“Yes, I do,” Ahsoka said, the emotion clear in her voice as well. “You can't save your Master... and I can't save mine...” She took a breath. “I'm asking you, to let go.”

 

“I... I can't! I can do this! You need to trust me, Ahsoka!” Ezra waited until he saw Kanan push the gunship that he rode in with Hera and Sabine out of the blast, then reached through the Portal and grabbed his Master. His hands burned with the heat of the flames, but he pulled Kanan through, into the starry domain.

 

Both Jedi collapsed onto the translucent pathway, panting heavily. Ahsoka rushed to them, not able to heal their burns, but at least relieve the pain. “Ezra, what have you done...?”

 

Kanan looked up with his blind eyes at the voice. “Ahsoka? Ahsoka, you're alive?!”

 

The Togruta placed her hand on Kanan's shoulder. “I am. Your Padawan saved me. As he has you...”

 

“See?” Ezra told her confidently. “I told you I could save him!”

 

Whatever response Ahsoka or Kanan might have given was cut off, as it suddenly seemed as if the entire world started shaking. “Wh-what's happening?” Ezra asked nervously.

 

Ahsoka glanced at the Portal, which was frozen now, at the point Kanan had been removed. “I told you,” she replied. “Removing Kanan from that moment would result in your death.”

 

“Wait, what's going on?” Kanan asked, having no clue what was going on.

 

“Ezra opened a Gate to a world between worlds. He used a Portal to remove you from your point of death... which would result in your own. I would guess that because of this, a time paradox has been created. Without Ezra to open the Gate and pull you in, he would not have died, and thus, all of time is being destroyed.”

 

Ezra's voice caught in his throat. “N-no... Kanan, I can't lose you! Not again!” He clung to the older man, his breath hitching as he began to cry.

 

“It's alright, Ezra, it's alright...” Kanan said softly, not sure what he could do.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, much of this is a prose transcription of the episode in question. This is basically a "what if?" that takes place literally between two lines of dialogue (the rest of the canon scene will be in the second half).


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra and Kanan say goodbye.

Ahsoka watched the two of them, even as she could see Portals all around them going dark. She knew why Ezra had done what he'd done, and she wasn't mad at him for it... but this couldn't stay.

 

“Kanan...” Ezra said, still clinging to Kanan, who had started rubbing his back, as the two knelt on the ground. “I-- I can't do this without you... Everyone... everyone misses you so much... and Hera... it's destroyed her!”

 

“I know, kid, I know...” Kanan smiled down at his student, no longer the child he'd met almost 4 years ago, despite his tears. “I knew, going into that mission, what I had to do, and that I might not make it out. I didn't want to leave you, or Hera... but I know you're strong enough to carry on without me. Both of you.”

 

Ezra looked up at his Master, his eyes shining. “I--”

 

“You can do this, Ezra. I believe in you. You're ready to be on your own.” He looked to Ahsoka, who realized what he intended to do, and handed him one of her lightsabers.

 

Kanan disentangled himself from Ezra, standing in front of the boy, and igniting the white blade. The boy looked up at him in confusion.

 

“Kanan, what--?”

 

The man shook his head. “You are no longer my student, Ezra,” he said softly.

 

“But Kanan--!”

 

Kanan lowered Ahsoka's blade to hover just over Ezra's right shoulder. “By the right of the Council,” he recited, before moving the blade to Ezra's left. “By the will of the Force.” The lightsaber moved to just over the boy's head. “Ezra Bridger,” he said, raising the blade back up, “you may rise.”

 

Ezra stood up, looking at Kanan in confusion, then to Ahsoka, who was taking her blade back. “What was that?”

 

Ahsoka and Kanan both smiled. “A knighting ceremony, Ezra,” she told him. “You are no longer a Padawan. Congratulations, Knight Bridger.”

 

“Wait, what, I'm--”

 

Kanan laughed, and then reached to ruffle what he could of Ezra's hair. “Some things never change. But you're no longer the lothrat who stole our cargo. You've earned your rank.”

 

“Thank you, Master.”

 

The former Master placed his hand on his former Padawan's shoulder. “I think it's time for us to fix things.” He looked at the Portal, which was frozen at the time when he was removed.

 

“Kanan, I--”  
  
“I know, Ezra, I know.” He stepped forward, but paused. “Can you give Hera a message for me?”

 

“Anything!” the boy insisted.

 

“Tell her... 'May the Force be with them'.”

 

“I will, Kanan, I promise!”

 

Kanan re-entered the portal, and Ezra bit his lip, watching. He reached out his hand, as he watched Kanan using the Force to push the gunship Ezra rode with Hera and Sabine out of the blast. But it wasn't enough. Kanan couldn't split his attentions and succeed on both fronts. So he made a decision, and concentrated on just pushing the gunship to safety, the flames consuming him as he did so.

 

Ezra looked down, letting the scene fade as he turned from the Portal.

 

“I'm sorry, Ezra. But you must see... Kanan found the moment when he was needed most. And he did what he had to do. For everyone.”

 

Ezra was silent as he walked past her, until he paused. “That's the lesson. I didn't see it, but... now...”

 

Ahsoka placed her hand on his shoulder. Ezra took a deep breath, and sighed. “Sometimes I wish my life was different. I-I wish I could see my Mom and Dad... Why can't thinks be like they were?”

 

~~~~~

 

Later, after Ahsoka and Ezra had both escaped from the Emperor's attempt to enter the World Between Worlds, and Ezra used all of his strength to collapse the Temple, so that the Empire could not use it any longer, he woke up in the excavator they'd used to escape. He figured he must have passed out, after all of the energy he'd expended, though he somehow heard his Master's last words to him; “The Force will be with you, always.” Looking out, he saw Hera standing on a flat plain, and walked out to meet her.

 

Rubbing his head, he stood next to her, before looking around. “Where are we?”

 

“The Temple,” Hera replied, one arm around her waist, the other on her shoulder.

 

Ezra shook his head in disbelief, taking a step back, before he saw the sign on the ground, the same one that he and Kanan had stood on to open the Temple, all of those years before. “What? Where? I-I mean, how?”

 

“You tell me,” emotion clear in her voice.

 

He looked down, then out. “Kanan and I stood here, when we first came to the Temple,” he explained.

 

Hera closed her eyes, then looked at Ezra. “He's gone now, isn't he? I mean, _really_ gone...”

 

“Yes,” Ezra said solidly, looking back at her. “But he... he graduated me...”

 

“Graduated...?”

 

Ezra smiled. “He knighted me. I guess I'm not just a student anymore.”

 

“Ezra, that's amazing! Congratulations!”

 

“That, and...” he smiled softly at her. “He gave me a message for you.”

 

“A message?”

 

“He said 'Tell her the may the Force be with them'.”

 

Hera placed her hand over her mouth, and squeezed her waist slightly, trying not to let tears show. He knew. Kanan knew, even when she wasn't sure. A glance at Ezra told her he didn't notice anything other than grief in her reaction. “Thank you, Ezra... thank you...”

 


End file.
